Sex differences in anxiety-like behaviors in rats.

Memory dysfunction is a symptomatic feature of many neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders; however, the basic underlying mechanisms of memory and altered states of circuitry function associated with disorders of memory remain a vast unexplored territory. The initial discovery of endogenous neurosteroids triggered a quest to elucidate their role as neuromodulators in normal and diseased brain function. In this review, based on the perspective of our own research, the advances leading to the discovery of positive and negative neurosteroid allosteric modulators of GABA type-A (GABAA), NMDA, and non-NMDA type glutamate receptors are brought together in a historical and conceptual framework. We extend the analysis toward a state-of-the art view of how neurosteroid modulation of neural circuitry function may affect memory and memory deficits. By aggregating the results from multiple laboratories using both animal models for disease and human clinical research on neuropsychiatric and age-related neurodegenerative disorders, elements of a circuitry level view begins to emerge. Lastly, the effects of both endogenously active and exogenously administered neurosteroids on neural networks across the life span of women and men point to a possible underlying pharmacological connectome by which these neuromodulators might act to modulate memory across diverse altered states of mind.

/pdf/neurosteroid-actions-in-memory-and-neurologic-3ivs6rqaqh.pdf

Neurosteroid Actions in Memory and Neurologic/Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Associations between sex hormones, sleep problems and depression: A systematic review

Allopregnanolone in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): Evidence for dysregulated sensitivity to GABA-A receptor modulating neuroactive steroids across the menstrual cycle.

Progesterone – Friend or foe?

https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/portal/files/18357106/Devall_et_al_Elevation_brain_allopregnanolone_European_Neuropsychopharmacology_2014.pdf

Elevation of brain allopregnanolone rather than 5-HT release by short term, low dose fluoxetine treatment prevents the estrous cycle-linked increase in stress sensitivity in female rats

Julia dos Santos

Papers

Elevation of brain allopregnanolone rather than 5-HT release by short term, low dose fluoxetine treatment prevents the estrous cycle-linked increase in stress sensitivity in female rats